<p>ICRs for fungi in rapid identification method.</p>

Delays in obtaining microbial culture results often hinder timely targeted antimicrobial therapy. Our study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of rapid pathogen identification (ID) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) in BSIs.</p> <p>Methods</p><p>Positive blood culture (BC) broth was transferred into separation gel vacuum blood collection tubes for preprocessing, followed by pathogen identification via matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS).

Identification concordance rates (ICRs) were calculated against the conventional reference method. Bacterial membrane rapid AST (BMR-AST) and positive blood culture medium rapid AST (PBCMR-AST) were performed using cultured bacterial membrane and raw positive BC medium, respectively, with results compared to conventional method.</p> <p>Results</p><p>A total of 210 specimens were analysed for rapid ID. ICRs were 74.6% (88/118) for Gram-negative bacteria (GNB), 37.2% (29/78) for Gram-positive bacteria (GPB), and 14.3% (2/14) for fungi.